TEHRAN Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here on Tuesday that no move has developed women's status and paid attention to their issues as advent of Islam did. Ayatollah Rafsanjani told staffers of the Women's Non-Governmental Organizations that Iranian officials are trying to restore women's rights under Islamic laws and God's orders. He praised the positive trend of Iranian women's movement in the post Islamic Revolution era, especially during the eight-year sacred defense (1980-88) and reconstruction period, and said that a large number of Iranian women have found their way to academic and educational centers to the effect that their number now exceeds that of men.

Iranian women's presence in international circles is also an auspicious move which can set a suitable pattern for other communities to follow, said Rafsanjani, adding that ethical issues and possible anxieties over the failure to fulfill maternal duty or train children are among sources of concern in western societies. All Iranian women should adhere to Islamic principles and values and insure their healthy presence in the society, and this is possible only through administration of justice, Rafsanjani said.

(IRNA)